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SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - In the early hours of August 14, disastrous weather took to Freetown as the city was flooded with torrential downpour. Shortly after, a mudslide followed dragging countless homes down a suburban hillside in slushy red dirt in Regent, east of Freetown. The Red Cross reported at least 200 people dead as aid organizations and local authorities rushed to the scene.

In a statement attributable to the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told IDN that, “the Secretary-General is saddened by the deaths and devastation caused by the mudslide and flooding in the town of Regent, Sierra Leone, and throughout Freetown,” adding, “the Secretary-General extends his condolences to the people and Government of Sierra Leone for the loss of life and destruction caused by this natural disaster.”

YANGON, Myanmar (IDN) – “The desire for peace exists everywhere, but the majority of people are not in a position to enjoy peace, stability and security they desire,” noted venerable Dr Ashin Nyanissara, spiritual head of the Sitagu International Buddhist University (SIBU), in opening a two-day gathering of spiritual leaders and scholars at the university here on August 5.

The event was the second Global Initiative for Conflict Avoidance and Environmental Consciousness (SAMVAD) conference, following the first held in New Delhi in September 2015.

Following is a slightly abridged version of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Security Council meeting on peace and security in Africa, in New York on August 10, in which she reports on her visits to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. - Editor

ROME (IDN) - "Rural areas are failing to provide opportunity and are losing their young people. This has major consequences at the local, national and global level. It can erode national economies, political stability, and food security," warned Gilbert F. Houngbo, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at a recent conference hosted by the African Union Commission, the European Commission and the Estonian Presidency of the EU in Rome, Italy.

The conference on July 2, 2017 focused on Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa – against the backdrop that an estimated 440 million young people will enter the rural labour market by 2030 in Africa alone.

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - It’s not that many years ago that Warren Christopher, the U.S. Secretary of State, commenting on the outbreak of separatist ethnic strife in the 1990s in countries such as Somalia, Zaire, Rwanda, East Timor and ex-Yugoslavia, asked. “Where will it end? Will it end with 5,000 countries?”

It was a serious misjudgement. Separatist wars have fallen sharply. Minorities are not fighting for their own patch of territory at the rate they were. Since 1993 the number of wars of self-determination has been halved.

PARIS (IDN) – If you suggest studying the humanities to some college-bound young people, you might be met with loud, pitying laughter. What is the value of a degree in literature, philosophy or history, they may ask.

An ambitious conference in Liège, Belgium, aims to provide an attitude-changing response to that question and, at the same time, draw up a programme to keep the humanities from becoming more “marginalised” at universities.

The event, titled the “World Humanities Conference: Challenges and Responsibilities for a Planet in Transition”, will take place from August 6 to 12.

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHVIEWS) - In discussions at the UN about achieving Agenda 2030, it has become de rigueur to highlight the role of the private sector. It is often introduced as the discovery of the idea that private sector investment and financing is indispensable to achieving Agenda 2030.

For developed country diplomats and their associated experts this new celebrity treatment appears to be an article of faith, at least during negotiations on economic matters in the UN. They are foisting a misleading 'Trumpian' exaggeration that is technically harmful to development policymaking and to Agenda 2030.

The practical, and long-running, reality is that investment by enterprises has always been indispensable to growth and development. It is NOT a new reality. It’s NOT a reality specific only to Agenda 2030.

CARTAGENA, Colombia (IDN) – The peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – signed in November 2016 and ratified early December by the Colombian Congress – ending five decades of conflict now poses enormous threats for the environment, according to scientists and experts at the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2017) held in Cartagena July 23-27.

The global forum gathered almost 2,000 scientists to address ecological challenges and present new research in conservation science and sustainable practices.

Colombia, a country with 40 million people, is one of the 17 world’s megadiverse nations concentrating 10 percent of biodiversity with 59 national parks and other protected sites covering an area of 23 million hectares. (P19) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Hunger can be eliminated in our lifetimes: This was the underlying conviction when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Zero Hunger Challenge in 2012. The Zero Hunger vision reflects five elements from within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which taken together, can end hunger, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Nearly two years after the international community adopted a set of 17 SDGs to be achieved by 2030, some "20 million people are on the brink of starvation", the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. "We can only achieve Zero Hunger if we transform the rural economy, put smallholders at the centre and invest in sustainable agriculture and food systems," said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources.